We had a training holiday yesterday attached to the Veteran’s day holiday, which made for a strange work week. Mon/Tues/off/off/Fri->Weekend is pretty weird any way you look at it. However, since I knew a bunch of folks would have Veteran’s day off, and on Thursday it would pretty much just be .mil types from Huachuca, I reckoned a ride was in the works. Day off + Twisty roads + Bikes + Burgers & Brats = Win, at least in my book. Plan was to meet up with anyone wanting to come from on post down in Sonoita, then re-ride 83 to Tucson, then via I-10 to Houghton, and from there to the mountain. After riding the mountain I had prepped for a cookout here at the house… So here’s how it went:
Met up with 6 other riders at the Shell station in Sonoita. The ride from there to where Old Sonoita Highway splits off from 83 was okay, except that one of the riders dropped their bike on the way out of the parking lot (zero speed). I didn’t see that one happen, but after some quick handle-bar tweaking the bike was back to 99% and was ridden for the remainder of the day without further incident. Old Sonoita highway parallels the newer asphalt on 83, and though the pavement isn’t quite as good, it’s also not quite as straight, which makes for a more interesting ride. We stopped at the predetermined gas station at Broadway and Houghton, but none of the folks from any of my bike forums made it out to link up with us there. Oh well.
The collective spoken (as opposed to the generally less-well-defined unspoken) agreement was that we would ride our own rides, and that I wouldn’t blast off at the front and leave the group. I was the only one wearing lower body equipment (I was in full leathers, all others were in MC jacket and jeans), so I was also the only one really hanging off in the corners. Of the other 6 bikes, 3 basically kept up with me as we hit the twisty bits on the mountain (2 of the GSX-Rs and the ZX-12). There was one other minor mishap on the way up which I will highlight here. As we were approaching the 7 Cataracts area below the overlook at Windy Point, we hit a series of corners which while not too difficult were tricky enough to cause a chain reaction over-run and a 2mph bike drop.
As I mentioned, we were below windy point, in the area highlighted:
Blown up so that the corners are more visible, the area looks like this:
Corner number 1 is a positive-camber near-hairpin that I personally think is the best corner on the mountain. Exiting that corner, you travel uphill into the corner where arrow number 2 highlights a parking pull-off to the outside at the corner’s exit. I entered corner #1 fairly slowly so the guys behind me wouldn’t over-cook it, then accelerated up through corner 2. As I exited, I checked my mirrors to see where they were and gauge how much I needed to slow down for them to catch me before the next ‘fun section’. I see the bike behind me (bike #2) over-run the corner, apply the brakes smoothly, get re-composed in the pull-off area and then bank back to the right to re-enter the travel lanes. He later said his brain knew he could make it but for some reason his body stood the bike up anyway. Bike 3 saw this happen, and followed suit, also braking smoothly and turning back in after composing himself in the pull-off. Bike 4 also follows, but was a bit further back and traveling faster (apparently to keep up). Did everything right except finish braking before trying to turn back onto the roadway, which meant he was going too fast (even after slowing) to successfully complete the re-entry turn. Realizing this, he tried to turn harder but at the same time grabbed a handful of front brake to try and slow some more. Had he done either the braking (straight up) or turning, he’d have been fine, but the combination of both locked the front wheel, and at the 2mph or so he had slowed down to, he dropped the bike, stepping away in the process.
After seeing him drop (and I would classify it as a drop vs a dump, given the very low speed) the bike, I flashed the brake lights, made a u-turn, and blasted back the hundred yards or so to help out. The bike had stopped close enough to the guardrail that he had to pull the clutch in to let it roll back a couple inches to get the bike back upright. Minor scuffing on the fairing and engine case , but otherwise completely functional. Analysis: I entered the corner at a moderate pace but accelerated through, since I knew how it opened up at the end. Bike 2 had a brainfart, corrected, and turned back in. Bike 3 had a brainfart in that he followed bike 2 instead of continuing the corner, but being a similarly experienced rider to #2, he had no issues. Bike 4 on the other hand was piloted by a newer rider, who had over-ridden his skill level, at least for the exit to that second corner. Realizing this, he chose ‘brake and turn’ instead of ‘brake’ or ‘turn’, which directly caused the drop. I would suspect there was a bit of target fixation involved, since where he ended up was very near the exit of the pull-off, and had he been thinking turn in! instead of don’t hit the guardrail!, he probably would have made the turn.
In hindsight, I should have realized that the 4th slot would have been better filled by #2 or 3, since the newest rider in the group wouldn’t have been at the back where the potential to be ‘sucked in’ to the corners is higher than if placed in the middle. Of course the nature of an ad-hoc group vs. a structured group ride tends to have the faster guys out front, and then generally a more experienced rider somewhere way at the back just to make sure everybody makes it along. I’ll probably plan more rides in the future with this group, and will have to consider briefing the route to everyone and then riding sweep vs. leading since I know which way we’re supposed to be going. Arivaca Road is probably the next ride we’ll do, but since that will be quite the excursion for the folks from SV, it might have to be another Ride/eat/ride home arrangement.
Anywho, we from there we made it to Windy Point without much ado:
It was a bit cooler there at the overlook, and most definitely windy, as my helmet blew off my seat and popped both quick-release adjusters of the sides of the faceshield, making that pop off in the process. After some impromptu helmet surgery, I was back in business and we rolled out for the top of the mountain. We didn’t stick around too long at the top since the weatherman lied to us (as is usually the case), and it was probably mid-50’s instead of low 60’s when we got to the top. Back down to Tucson, then on to the house where burgers & dogs were waiting. A couple bruised egos, and a couple scuffed bikes, but no people got hurt. We did get pretty lucky that there was no traffic during the collective brainfart at corner #2 labeled above, or it could have been ugly.
Lead from the front, but set a pace that won’t have the less experienced folks getting in over their heads. Having previously been that less-experienced guy and ending up off-roading unexpectedly trying to follow a faster guy, I know it’s not ego or bravado, it’s just lack of knowing. Knowing what you’re capable of, knowing what the bike is capable of, knowing what the road surface / corner layout / camber will allow… It takes time. Sometimes I forget what it was like to be less than a year in and thinking “I’ve got this, I can ride!”. I just realized I’ve been riding for over 8 1/2 years now. And (nearly) continuously for the last 4+ on this bike. Of course I also realize that now that I know what more of the variables are, I also know how variable each one is and thus how little I really do know on any given day…
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